Info
- Band(s): Malphas
- Label(s): Soulseller Records
- Release Format(s): 12" vinyl, CD
- Release Year: 2025
- Review Date: April 29, 2025
- Author(s): Seth Nekromancer
Okay, let’s start this review by creating a painting on a gloomy wall of some Dantesque circle. The background base where the painting will be brushed will be traditional Black Metal. Then we add a layer of Thrash, melodies in short strokes. Now we attack the wall with intensity and depth in the drums, some brushstrokes of modern Metal, and emotional passages… Vualá! We will have as a result ‘Extinct’.
The album shows us a palpable variation in terms of nuances, combinations of rhythms and styles, letting see in the throne of its abyss many references and influences from both the Swedish Black Metal of yesteryear and the Norwegian circle, with an amalgamation that in my opinion was well achieved between the classic sound and the modern with good sound (for references see mural at the entrance).
The work begins with a direct kick to the face, as if the strategy was to start the fight with its most powerful blow, and ‘Psychomachia’ is that blow. This song could have perfectly shared a split with Vulture Lord, and you would have a balanced conspiracy! In the march of themes like ‘Trenches’ and ‘Majestic Moon’, you find all that richness from the bones to the creation of the tissues with many and varied compositional resources. In both themes, they begin with a prelude and become richer as the seconds go by, although ‘Trenches’ is more intense with blast beats and changes of rhythms. In ‘Majestic Moon’, the mid-tempo dictates the path full of riffs and melodies that, without being captivating, keep you tied to the theme until the unexpected appearance of a piano that manages to connect the previous cadence with the epilogue of the longest theme of the work, drowning in a sea of melodies that remind me of Watain.
Now, we have to talk about the predominant instrument in this work: the guitars, riddled here and there with well-thought-out riffs, melodies, solos, and arrangements that beautify, darken, depress, awaken anger, or exalt, depending on how they want to annihilate you. Listening to ‘Butcher’s Broom’ is like trying to cross a minefield without one of these riffs or melodic arrangements exploding on your feet.
My favourite track is ‘Armada Christi’, which shows a broad reverence for Dissection. This track in particular amalgamates all the elements that Malphas has scattered throughout the work: irascible vocal work, musical intensity and depth, a riff with overwhelming drum rhythms, melodies, and a memorable guitar solo accompanied by a well-padded rhythm base in the background.
It’s almost 45 minutes that fly by when you try to distill all the details that Extinct has. The conspirators say goodbye by releasing an instrumental where the guitars once again show why they are predominant with good fingering in the execution and metallic virtuosity inherited from the old school, but that they in the middle of 2025 have tried to unite with modern sounds, and I think they have succeeded!
A work to enjoy on a cold morning in the Austral autumn.
Malphas
- Country: Switzerland
- Style: Black Metal
- Links: Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp, Spotify, Youtube
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Soulseller Records
- Country: Netherlands
- Style: Black Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, Thrash Metal, Other
- Links: Homepage, Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp, Youtube
